I personally did not have any rubber bands so my son made me a quick one out of his rainbow loom bands.
Rubber band car designs.
Here are the hosts of design squad nation judy lee and adam vollmer doing the rubber band car challenge.
Rubber band cars are a fun way to learn about motion propulsion and energy.
Build a car that goes really.
Plastic bottle caps toy wheels like those of k nex film canister caps can also serve as the wheels.
Now that your car is built attach the rubber band to the front structure support.
Your car uses a stretched rubber band as the energy source instead of gasoline.
For our design we used a mustard bottle.
When the rubber band unwinds and the axle spins it transforms the potential stored energy into kinetic energy or motion.
How to make a rubber band car easily with basic tools and material found at home.
The basic setup is a lightweight body for the car wheels axles and a rubber band to provide energy for motion.
The following steps can be used to make a successful rubber band car but experiment with different objects for the wheels and the car body to find the design that can go the farthest.
Wooden dowels threaded through straws.
How could you measure the fuel economy for different designs.
Pbs kids design squad build rubber band car.
Loop the loose end of the rubber band over the catch.
They are also fun to play with and race.
For example how many feet can your car travel per.
Wind the rubber band around the axle.
The goal is simple.
This rubber band powered car is an awesome engineering activity for your next stem project time.
This will keep the car tires from just spinning when the car is ready.
Another tip would be to use a little playdough to pack in the caps.
Instead of cardboard the cars can use a variety of lightweight materials for the chassis such as lego balsa wood light plastic container cereal box or foam board.
Some designs use cardboard for wheels some use cds.
Check out the bonus fun and try to beat the fastest rubber band car in guinness world records.
Make sure to check out our lego rubber band car design too.
When you turn the axle on the car you are giving the rubber band potential energy which is stored energy.
Are the gears whirring away inside your head yet.
Other designs of rubber band cars.
There are lots of creative rubber band car ideas but you definitely need a rubber band and a way to wind it up.
Choose your car s body.